


Snapshots

by eerian_sadow



Series: Final Fantasy Exchange pieces [3]
Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, challenge: doink, implied canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scenes from Auron, Braska and Jecht's  days in Besaid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Request 2 Fandom(s): Final Fantasy X Request: Auron/Braska/Jecht Either as a threesome, as friends, or as any combination of the three of them in a pairing. Please choose whichever you feel happiest writing. I'd like to see something set in a location around Spira that foreshadows FFX, for example perhaps a scene in Besaid where they're involved in the village, defending it against fiends or just relaxing as this is obviously where Braska asks for Yuna to be returned. Or anything similar to that. Alternatively, a scene set in the ruins before they meet Yunalesca, where people are starting to think of turning back and tensions are running high in the group.
> 
>  
> 
> I am sorry about all the Lulu. She jumped in and Took Over. Still, I hope you enjoy it as much as me. It was a blast to write.

There was a crowd when they disembarked, the sort comprised of people far too young or too old to be out on the fishing boats or tending the fruit trees that supplemented the islanders' seafood diet. Their mannerisms were calm, though they chattered excitedly among themselves. The bulk of the islanders were at sea, brining in the day's catch. Their absence put Braska immediately at ease, grateful not to be set upon by an overzealous mob or loudly scorned for his choice of wife as so many people chose to do. 

"Pretty place." Jecht stepped up to the railing, interrupting Auron's study of Braska. "What's here?" 

"The village, a temple with another Fayth that i must acquire before continuing the pilgrimage and," the Summoner grinned at the man from Zanarkand, "The worst blitzball team in Spira." 

"I thought you didn't pay attention to blitzball." Jecht crossed his arms and gave Braska a look that Auron had learned meant Jecht thought one (occationally both) of them was playing with his head. 

"He doesn't," Auron said as Braska laughed and stepped into the crowd. "Besaid's team is legendary, even in the cloisters." 

"No team's that bad." Jecht huffed and followed Braska into the crowd. The citizens of the island community seemed as excited to meet the Guardian as they were, the Summoner. 

Auron sighed and followed, trying to pretend he didn't hear a pair of older women whispering--loudly--about how attractive they found him. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

The village hosted a feast for Braska that night, before the head priest would even consider allowing the Summoner to attempt the trials. They wanted to celebrate Braska and the sacrifice he was making, to thank him and to wish him good fortune.

Auron was both touched and hurt by their care. Braska seemed more serene and at peace than he had been in years. Jecht was playing blitzball with two orange-haired boys with all the hedonistic glee Auron had come to expect from him.

This place was calm, gentle, and the Guardian had the blasphemous hope that Braska would fail this trial and they could stay in this peaceful village forever. 

"Sir Auron?" His thoughts were interrupted by the dark haired girl who had been serving him all night. She was smart and perceptive, and he thought she had great potential beyond this island. 

"Yes, Lulu?" 

"After Lord Braska brings the Calm, will you return to Bevelle?" 

The question puzzled him, but he answered honestly. "I have not decided." 

"Would you return to Besaid?" 

"Perhaps." 

"Please?" The girl's eyes were intense as she stared at him. "Our village would welcome a warrior like you." 

Auron blinked. That was not the request he had expected. "Doesn't the village have warriors?" 

Lulu looked away and Auron thought she might have been blushing. "Yes, sir." 

Quickly, the girl refilled his cup and dashed away. The Guardian watched, perplexed. 

"I think you have an admirer, Auron," Braska said with a smile. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 _"SINSPAWN!"_

The word jolted Guardians and Summoner out of a peaceful slumber and into attack readiness before the cry echoed out of existance. They rushed from their room in the temple to confront the fiend as villagers rushed into the shelter of the sturdy building. 

Braska began a Summoning the moment they joined the village warriors on the beach, sacrificing immediate attack for the power of the Aeon. Jecht wasted long moments gawking at the thing--and it was ugly, with its sagging skin and dripping ichor--before taking a ready stance. Auron made an unhappy noise at the man's hesitation and simply charged in, great sword dropping down into the sinspawn's slick skin and tearing into yeilding flesh. Now was not the time to berate Jecht for his inaction, but if people died here today because the man was hung over the sinspawn would be the least of his worries. 

He sliced into the beast a second time, drawing a rumble of anger from the creature. It was easy to damage, but slow to react it seemed. The island warriors seemed to have made the same realization and rushed to Auron's side, spears and swords stabbing deeply and sending ichor flying. One man screamed as the slimy substance flew into his eyes and Auron was distracted for a moment as Jecht ducked in and dragged the warrior to safety. The sinspawn took the opportunity the Guardian presented to it and flicked a barbed tentacle out from under its skin, stabbing it into the warrior's side. 

Auron howled with pain as the fiend's venom spread through his body, paralyzing his limbs and and poisoning in the same assault. He heard Braska call his name as he fell, but he knew his Lord was still too far away to assist him--if the older man could have even risked stopping his summoning. He wondered, as his body was wracked with pain, if this was how it would end for Lord Braska's journey. Then the girl, the bright girl that he saw such promise in, stepped between him and the sinspawn. 

In her arms, she held an old moogle doll. Around her wrists, she wore a pair of simple protective bracelets. On her face, she wore a look of determination that would have given the strongest Aeon pause. 

"Burn!" She dropped the mog and raised her arms, then lit the sinspawn on fire. 

The sinspawn screamed and lashed out toward the girl, but she danced out of reach of the flailing tentacles. Jecht darted into the fray a moment later, and Auron thought he heard the blitzer say something about paying for hurting _his_ snotty monk. Then all he knew was pain, fire and darkness. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

Auron woke to gentle hands swabbing his face with a cool cloth, and found himself relieved to be waking at all. "Lord Braska?" 

"Here, and well." Braska moved the cloth away, giving the Guardian and unobstructed view. "I'm afraid you took the worst of this battle. The beast was quite put out when you and young Lulu refused to die." 

"The girl--!" He jerked upright, prepared to bolt out of bed to her side. 

"Is fine, aside from a few bruises. She will be a fine warrior mage." The Summoner smiled and pushed him back down. "Perhaps, even, a Guardian." 

"She has a Guardian's spirit," Auron agreed. 

"Though I pray," Braska said softly, "That she never experiences the sorrow of our journey." 

He caught one of Braska's hands in his and squeezed it tightly. "She won't." 

-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

When they finally entered the Cloister of Trials, even Jecht was disappointed by the simplicity of the puzzles. "I thought these were supposed to be challenges." 

"Not all challenges need to be tedius or difficult," Braska chided gently. "Sometimes simple persistance in the face of irritation is enough." 

"If that were all it took, we would have defeated Sin weeks ago." Auron glared pointedly at Jecht as Braska slid the simple puzzle lock into place and opened the door to the Chamber of the Fayth. 

"And Auron here might actually get laid once in a while." The man from Zanarkand glared back. 

"That's enough." Braska pinned them both with a firm glare of his own. "I'm going to go pray, and I expect _both_ of you intact and unbruised when I return." 

"Sure, whatever." 

"Yes, Lord Braska." 

The Summoner sighed. Someday, he hoped, they would at least pretend to like each other. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

"Auron?" 

"Yes, Lord Braska?" 

"When this is over, will you bring Yuna to this place?" The Summoner looked around at the island, where they had lingered for several days longer than planned. "A village like this is more suited to the needs of a child than the halls of Bevelle." 

That it was less likely to be hostile to her mixed heritage went unsaid by both of them. 

"I will, Lord Braska.'

"And you, Auron. Promise me that you will stay with her." Braska pinned him with a look that was worried and deeply sorrowful. "She will need more than a beautiful place to live."

"As long as I draw breath, I will stay by her side."

"Thank you." The Summoner gave his Guardian a thankful smile, though the sorrow didn't completely fade. "Now, I suppose we should rescue the village from Jecht, before he finds trouble we can't get him out of."

 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 

"Sir Auron!"

He turned at the cry and couldn't hide a smile when he saw the girl running toward him. She hadn't been amongbthe villagers to see them off outside the temple and he had been afraid they would leave without saying goodbye to her. He handed his gear off to Jecht--ignoring the other man's protests that he wasn't the loading crew--and stepped back down the ship's boarding ramp. 

Lulu gave him a tiny smile and thrust a small, cloth wrapped package toward him as she came to a stop. "Take this with you. It will protect you against the fiends on the islands."

Curious, Auron opened the package. Nestled carefully in the cloth was an old, but well maintained Bracer. It was well crafted, with an eye toward elegance as well as protection, and it glowed faintly green with an additional magical enhancement.

"It was my father's," Lulu continued. "But it doesn't do him any good on the Farplane. I know it will be useful to you, though. And my father would have wanted to help bring the Calm."

"I will be honored to wear this armor in your father's memory." He held the Bracer out to her, with all the graveness of a man proposing marriage. "Will you assist me in equipping it?"

They both knew he was perfectly capable, but the smile--as bright as any that little Yuna had ever given him--negated any damage his pride would take. 

"You'll come back, won't you?" She asked as she buckled the Bracer around his arm. "With Lord Braska's daughter, when the Calm comes?"

"I will come back," Auron promised.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"So, you gonna marry her?" Jecht teased as the ship pulled out of Besaid's small harbor.

"She's far too young." Auron glared at his fellow guardian.

"She gave you a hell of an engagement present." 

"She worries for Lord Braska's safety during our journey." The monk laid his hand over the bracer Lulu had given him despite his desire to distract Jecht into talking about _any_ other subject. 

"I think she's more worried about _your_ safety. You shoulda seen the way she wailed on that fiend when you went down."

"Lulu is ten times the Guardian you will ever be." Auron turned and stomped toward their cabin before his sudden rush of anger at the implication behind Jecht's words caused him to do some think he would regret. "And this discussion is over."

Braska sighed as the monk stepped through the door that led below deck. "Jecht, you must stop antagonizing Auron. The two of you are supposed to be a team, not the first wave of enemies."

"Aw, I was just teasin'. I didn't think it'd set him off like that."

"Marriage is a difficult subject for Auron," The Summoner said softly. Auron closed the door before any more well intentioned words drifted through the portal.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Lulu's gift served as well as promised on Kilika island, and beyond. After its usefulness was amply demonstrated during a very unequal battle with a trio of ocho, Jecht even stopped teasing him about it.

When he staggered out of Zanarkand, broken and alone, it was the few relics of his past life he kept.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

 

"You're late, Sir Auron."

Auron looked up at the black mage who had dedicated her services to being Yuna's guardian. He had known Lulu was destined for great things, but this was not a path he had wanted for her. "Jecht's son is as un-punctual as his father, and I had to keep that promise as well."

Lulu nodded. "Yuna grew into a fine woman under Kimhari's guidance. He was an excellent choice as your stand in."

"I'm glad to know that. It was a choice that I regretted, often."

"We all make choices we regret," the mage said softly. "Mine is encouraging Yuna to follow in her father's footsteps."

Auron nodded in understanding. 

"You kept it." Lulu sat down next to him and traced her fingers over the old bracer.

"There were days when it was the only thing that kept me moving forward."

"I didn't think it meant so much."

"Knowing that you had seen me at my weakest and still respected me so much, meant more than you could know. Especially after Zanarkand."

Wordlessly, she slid her fingers away from the bracer and laced them with his. For a moment, they were both ten years younger pretending that everything would be all right again


End file.
